Defining Your Target Audience

Defining your brand’s target audience is often a tricky, yet crucial part of the business. Companies often overlook the importance of identifying who to market to. But when it comes down to it, your audience demographics inform the messaging of your advertisements. Design, copy, and placement can all change depending on whether you’re reaching a 45-year-old father of two, or a college student who just moved out of her parents’ house. Use some of the following steps to target the right groups of people and increase sales.

Identify Your Niche

If you haven’t already, it’s imperative to pin down what your brand’s all about. Be specific! Ask yourself: do you align with a fun or serious mentality? Are you all about style or functionality? Answer a series of questions to discover your core characteristics. Then, match those characteristics to a group of people most likely to respond positively to your brand personality. Your business should take this niche seriously, making it your mission to specialize in their wants and needs.

Consider Who Benefits from Your Product

While it’s important to match your company’s qualities to your audience’s personality, it’s even more important to target a group willing to purchase from your company. Think about the product or service you offer, and who it might matter to the most. If you’re trying to sell sports memorabilia, for example, consider the type of person likely to buy. Your first instinct might tell you to target men. And while that may be the case, it’s important to remember that not all men will be interested. So, dig deeper by targeting men interested specifically in sports, entertainment, and collections. When defining your audience, be as precise as possible to get an accurate glimpse of what makes the consumer tick.

Analyze Who’s Interacting with Your Brand

Run a few pilot campaigns to ensure you’re hitting the right people. Evaluate the statistics and purchasing behaviors that resulted from your ads, and you may find a subset of your customers you didn’t know existed. Say you send mailers and launch digital advertisements for your sports memorabilia company, and find women ages 20-40 are redeeming your coupons and clicking through your website. Imagine the sales you could have missed if you continued marketing solely towards men! The bottom line: no matter what you’re selling, run multiple campaigns with messaging that appeals specifically to each branch of your audience. Don’t leave any interested parties behind!

Put these tactics to good use when it comes to defining your ideal target audience. But don’t let all this information intimidate you! Simply follow the process to uncover core truths about your company and its customers. Then, make your marketing as effective as possible. Contact Print Tech for design, mailing, or marketing assistance that’ll help your brand shine.